Abstract: Shale gas exploitation has expanded rapidly in China due to the increasing energy needs and the prospects of shale gas exploitation.In shale gas exploration activities, the technical risks have attracted much attention and the environmental risks are gaining more concern; however, few attention has been paid to the social risks of shale gas exploitation. Through document research and fieldwork, the author did a case study of Fuling shale gas exploitation in Chongqing and analyzes the non-technical risks, especially the social risks in the exploitation of shale gas. The analysis reveals that the low compensation for land acquisition and inconsistency in compensation standard will bring social instability, which is no good for poverty alleviation. The cooperation between the local governments and village committees and the stated-owned enterprises ensures the smooth implementation of the project, but may put the local communities and the residents who are most affected and in the lowest social stratification in a weak position in interests distribution.The project also brings inequality to local economic development, with the town communities benefiting more, but the rural communities where the gas wells are located benefiting less. Such risks still exist at present; therefore, we suggest that both local economic and social development should be taken into consideration in the shale gas exploration activities in the future.

Key words: shale gas exploitation, non-technical risks, social risks, compensation for land expropriation, interests' distribution